World Bank president Yong Kim to meet Modi, Jaitley this week

The World Bank Group president Jim Yong Kim is scheduled to meet the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi in Delhi this week in order to review key development priorities, according to a World Bank statement released yesterday.

Kim is arriving today on a three-day visit to India. During his visit, Kim will also hold talks with the country's finance minister Arun Jaitley.

''The historic mandate from the people of India represents a tremendous opportunity to unlock India's growth potential and take advantage of its immense demographic dividend,'' said Kim.

''I look forward to meeting prime minister Modi and finance minister Jaitley to understand their development priorities, and determine how the financial and knowledge resources of the World Bank Group can be best allocated to support them,'' he further stated.

Kim will visit Bank-supported project sites in Tamil Nadu to see the challenges of India's rural-urban transformation, and how, empowered with the right skills, rural women in the state are taking advantage of emerging urban employment opportunities.   

Today, India is home to the largest operations of World Bank arms International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), and its private sector wing International Finance Corporation (IFC).

As of June 2014, total IBRD and IDA net commitments in India stood at $12.7 billion and $11.7 billion respectively, across 84 projects, while the IFC's India portfolio contained 239 projects, amounting to committed and disbursed exposure of $5.3 billion.

During the past one year up to June 2014, the World Bank's assistance amounted to $6.4 billion comprising $2 billion from IBRD, $3.1 billion from IDA, $100 million from the clean technology fund and $1.2 billion from IFC.

Recognizing India as a key partner in ending global poverty, the global lender has ensured that India continues to receive high levels of financial assistance from the Group.

As part of its efforts to create additional borrowing options for India, the IBRD has recently increased the single borrower limit for India to $20 billion from $17.5 billion.  Besides, the IFC has successfully mobilised its $1 billion offshore rupee bond programme aimed at strengthening India's capital markets and attracting foreign investments.